moral philosophy

Repugnance, Outrage, and Other Moral Excuses

Michael Giberson Bryan Caplan, in How Wise is Repugnance?,  questions Leon Kass’s argument that “repugnance is the emotional expression of deep wisdom.” (From Kass’s essay, “The Wisdom of Repugnance.”) Kass runs through a list of things that he thinks the reader will accept as obviously repugnant (incest, bestiality, mutilating corpses, cannibalism, and so on) and …

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Unfair Prices and Moral Progress

Michael Giberson Unfair Prices Daniel Little, at Understanding Society, asks about “Fair Prices?”  In exploring the topic he draws some upon E.P. Thompson’s studies of the English working class: E. P. Thompson’s work on early modern Britain reminds us that there was a “moral economy of the crowd” that profoundly challenged the legitimacy of the …

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More on Michael Sandel, Justice and Price Gouging

Michael Giberson Yesterday I commented on Michael Sandel’s book, Justice, and on his discussion of price gouging.  I hoped that Sandel would go deeper into his ideas about justice and price gouging, but the book’s index suggests that the introductory chapter is all he has to offer specifically on price gouging. In re-reading parts of …

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